Steele Claims He Had Meetings With Clinton/DNC Lawyers and That One Was Source for Debunked Claim About Russia Collusion

AP featured image — Christopher Steele, former British intelligence officer in London Tuesday March 7, 2017 where he has spoken to the media for the first time . Steele who compiled an explosive and unproven dossier on President Donald Trump’s purported activities in Russia has returned to work. Christopher Steele said Tuesday he is “really pleased” to be back at work in London after a prolonged period out of public view. He went into hiding in January. (Victoria Jones/PA via AP)

Christopher Steele recently gave testimony in a defamation lawsuit against him by Alfa Bank. During that testimony, he revealed new information about previously unknown communications he had with the lawyers for the DNC and the Clinton campaign, Perkins Coie lawyers Michael Sussman and Marc Elias.

Steele alleged in one of his memos that Alfa Bank had ties to Putin and that the bank had server traffic with the Trump organization. Steele testified that that story originally came from Sussman.

From Daily Caller:

He revealed that Sussmann, a former Justice Department official, told him during a meeting on July 29, 2016 about suspicious network traffic between the Trump Organization and Alfa Bank. He also said that the theory about the computer server traffic was the catalyst for the dossier memo he would write six weeks later about Alfa Bank.

“I’m very clear is that the first person that ever mentioned the Trump server issue, Alfa server issue, was Mr. Sussman [sic],” Steele told Hugh Tomlinson, a lawyer for the Alfa Bank owners, on March 17.

Steele went on to say that Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson instructed him at some point after the Sussmann meeting to write a report about Alfa Bank.

Elias, who was the general counsel for the Clinton campaign hired Fusion GPS in April 2016 to look into Donald Trump and Fusion hired Steele to investigate.

To further spread the Alfa Bank story, Sussmann contacted James Baker, his former DOJ colleague who then served as general counsel for the FBI. Baker told House investigators on Oct. 18, 2018 that Sussmann contacted him to share the information and that they met on Sept. 19, 2016. [….]

Three days later, Steele met with Elias at Perkins Coie’s offices in Washington, D.C., the ex-spy testified. Steele did not provide details of his discussions with Elias.

The Alfa Bank story ultimately became public when Slate ran it Oct. 31, 2016. The Daily Caller alleges that Sussman was the source to Slate for the story. The IG report busted the Alfa Bank claim completely, reporting that the FBI found there were no cyber links between the bank and the Trump Organization.

When finally nailed with being behind the dossier, the Clinton campaign tried to justify it.

From Washington Examiner:

Robby Mook, Clinton’s presidential campaign manager, said in 2017 he authorized Elias, who heads Perkins Coie’s political law group, to hire an outside firm to dig up dirt on Trump’s connections with Russia in 2016. Mook said Elias was receiving information from Fusion GPS about the research into Trump and Russia in 2016, and Elias periodically briefed the Clinton campaign.

“I’m proud that we were able to assemble some of the research that has brought this to light,” Mook said.

In addition to the claims that have been debunked like this one, the IG report also revealed that Steele’s primary source cast doubt on the dossier himself. Moreover, newly declassified footnotes from the IG report also said that the Russian intelligence operatives may have fed disinformation to Steele.

So far, the only people who have reported on this testimony are conservative media. I’m sure that’s just an oversight by mainstream media.